Kingdom Hearts, a tale of two hearts
by JAH14
Summary: Two young teens, Jacob and Ellie, find themselves in a mysterious dream which will ultimately decide their fate. [OC]
1. Dreams?

Dreams. Are they actually dreams? That's what Ellie and Jacob wondered. Usually dreams come and go - they can dominate your life one minute and then be nothing but a spec of dust in the wind the next. However this dream was different. They felt control, they felt free will, they felt the cold, they felt the warm, the ground the air, themselves. But that's not what was odd about this dream. What was odd was that both of them were dreaming the exact same dream. They awoke on a stained glass platform, detailed with a maiden wearing a blue and white flower dress, holding a bouquet of roses in her hands. This platform was surrounded by nothing but darkness.

Jacob slowly stood up trying to get a good look at the ground, and to see what it was exactly he was standing on. However he saw nothing but darkness underneath this beautiful piece of art. He heard words in his head at this moment. These words came to him one sentence at a time. "Ascend, young one." As this was said, a staircase spiraled up to another stained glass platform. Jacob was wary but continued up these stairs. Over by Ellie, the same events had occurred, though her thoughts were different. She was more concerned with how beautiful the stained glass was at first before she realized how much power she had over her actions in this dream rather than tagging along for the ride as it had usually felt in the past. After examining the glass and the darkness, she decided to go on, and follow these voices, ascending to what was unknown to both of them.

Upon arrival to the top, both Ellie and Jacob received a message from the voices. "Choose your path" they said, as three altars rose up from the platform. One with a shimmering sword, sharp enough to cut through bone like parchment, A hand carved staff, that's head sparkled with energy, and a round steel shield, strong enough to hold back the mightiest blow from the sword. "The Warrior" the first voice said as the sword rose. "The Magister" the second voice to the staff. "The protector" the third to the shield. Now, both Ellie and Jacob were more confused than their initial reaction to free will. "Choose your path to take" the voices said in unison.

At this moment both of them walked by the alters, examining the items before touching them. Jacob first walked by the shield, which he thoroughly thought about choosing first. The promise of being protected from everything thrown at this shield was almost enough to him. Ellie walked by the staff, staring with awe at how beautifully it was crafted. She felt overwhelmed by its magical energy. This is where the two continued to the next item.

In the middle was the sword. Now both of them were looking at this with thoughts of power. Power to change things for good. Power to keep things in order. Power to change things for no good at all, but for the sake of change. Jacob looked at the grip and compared his hand, thinking how it could fit comfortably. Ellie however, saw the sword as a beauty too easily damaged from use, unlike the staff, a beauty so perfect it'd never change. This is where they moved on.

Lastly was the staff for Jacob, and the shield for Ellie. Ellie felt the same about the shield as Jacob had, about the promise of protection for all she loved and herself. However, she had her heart set on another path. Jacob at the staff suddenly felt repelled by the magical forces that lay within its oak. Whenever he got close he felt sick. Like the air had gone stuffy and stuck in a small cramped space. He decided not to go too close to the staff and in fact ignore it entirely.

Now was their choice. Both were torn to choose only one but excited about the power they'd hold with what they chose. They ran towards their desire. Ellie across to her staff and Jacob over to his sword. They took them in their grasp, climbed onto the altars, held them proudly in the air and grinned as the weapons shimmered and disappeared. They felt the power coursing through their veins. However the voices had one last choice.

"Choose an item to sacrifice" they said. This time, the choice felt hard, but easy at the same time. They didn't expect they'd need to sacrifice anything, which made this crushing, but then they already knew what they were going to sacrifice. Jacob struggled towards the staff but made it, and threw it from the altar and into the darkness. The atmosphere was lifted of being stuffy and he could breathe fresh air again. Ellie took the sword, and let it be taken away by the natural forces in this strange place. The sword slowly turned into a shining dust which she felt was a graceful way for it to go. After this, the altars collapsed and fell back under the platform.

For a second or two, there was silence. Neither of them knew where they were going or what they were doing. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the noise of a second spiraling staircase breaking through the ground, shooting up to the third platform. This was "The final test." Both of them climbed slowly, taking in everything they saw as much as they could, so that they could describe it to each other. The next platform they reached, like the others, was made of stained glass, with an image of Sora, holding the Keyblade. Neither knew who Sora or what the Keyblade were. It would in fact be later they realized the significance of this image.

They both took a step forward, and as they did, there opened up an oozing pool of darkness in the ground. From this, their silhouettes rose and the pool began to soak up into their silhouette causing it to grow, until it was deformed and two stories high at least. They both felt intimidated but stood fearlessly in their own shadow, and with the power they now held, they attacked. Their weapons manifested in their palms. Jacob's chosen sword clashed with the darkness. Smoke billowed from every blow struck by Jacob. Meanwhile, Ellie used her staff to cast spells that she never thought existed! Thunder and fire threw the darkness to the ground. It slowly melted away and evaporated. Jacob had a little more difficulty however. He had been dodging the huge blows made by the darkness, which crashed into the ground like trees being cut down. He eventually climbed onto its back, and struck the 'heart.'

Now that these had been dealt with, the test was complete. They both passed with flying colours. But now they began to feel dizzy. The room felt like it was turning, but it wasn't, it was in fact the platform. It tipped over causing them to fall down what seemed like an endless chasm, though eventually they crashed and smashed into the stained glass on the next platform. Immediately, Ellie awoke in her bed, and gave a sigh of relief. She had felt strong and refreshed, as if she still had the power. This may have been the adrenaline, she thought to herself. Meanwhile, Jacob's experience was entirely different. He fell through the glass, and into an ocean knocked unconscious. It was later that day he washed up onto the shore...


	2. Seperated

A few hours went by, whilst Jacob laid still on the shore of the island, breathing slowly in the waves that washed past him as the tide was still high. Both Ellie and Jacob lived on the island, along with a few other families. It wasn't much but it was enough for everyone that lived there. Ellie and Jacob would occasionally walk on the shore, have races, talk, watch the sunset before going home. However, Ellie hadn't heard from Jacob today, so she went down to the beach to see if she could find him. Meanwhile, the tide went out, and the water no longer surrounded Jacob. He still laid on his stomach, sprawled out in the wet sand.

Ellie walked down to the shore in the hopes of finding Jacob. She wasn't disappointed to see him laying in the sand. From then she hurried over to him, ready to wake him up with a pounce. When she got down to him, he was drenched like he'd been swimming. His hair was still dripping, his clothes damp and skin shiny from the waters reflection. She nudged him a little, and slowly he came back to consciousness, first turning over onto his back. As he opened his eyes, he saw Ellie's face in front of the sunlight. Her shadow hung over him.

"Since when was I being woken by angels?" Jacob said.

"Same time you started sleeping on the beach." Ellie giggled, and helped him up from the sanded. After firmly planting his feet on the ground, he asked the obvious question. "What happened last night? I remember going to bed and then... I had a dream about this strange place. It was dark all around, there was stained glass, and I had to choose a path to take." Ellie recognized this right away and couldn't resist jumping in.

"Was there 3 choices? The Magister the Warrior and the Protector?"

Jacob was shocked how she knew, and decided to continue describing the place with her. "Yes! And then there was a sacrifice and-"

"and after the sacrifice you thought a giant silhouette with what you chose?"

"Exactly!" The two were stunned at how much they both knew about this place, and how they experienced the same thing. "Then the platform tipped, and I fell. I heard glass smashing and then I woke up here, with you." From that point they talked about the dream the rest of their time on the beach. They sat in a tree, watching the sunset before they had to part. Both of them were silent for a second, until Ellie asked "What do you think it was? If it's real then why did we do it, and if it's not then why did we have the same dream?"

"Who knows? Maybe everyone on the island had a dream like it, or maybe it's a warning that something's going to happen? Either way, it's creepy." Jacob replied.

"What if it was another world?"

"That would be awesome! A world that we didn't need a raft or ship or anything to get to, just our dreams?!"

Ellie paused as the sun finished setting, and the sky lit up with stars. "Maybe. Perhaps we'll go back there tonight when we sleep?" She got down from the tree, and looked up at Jacob. He followed shortly after looking at the stars for a moment.

"I may even see you in that world tonight!" Jacob said excitedly.

"We need to get home first though." Ellie smiled, and hugged, Jacob tightly. They both went their separate ways from that point, but that night neither of them returned to that strange world they were excited to see again. Both Ellie and Jacob were sound asleep when they awoke to the sound of a violent storm. Jacob got up in a shot and looked out the window to see the same dark pool witnessed in the dream. It was spread across the beach, and strange black, bipedal creatures climbed out of it. Ellie saw the same view from her window. Both of them had the immediate reaction to find each other.

Ellie climbed out of her window, and ran down to the beach, keeping her distance from the darkness. Jacob too came down, but there was a black fog too thick for them to see each other. The fog cleared for a small area of each of them, but was too painful to go through. It felt like being on fire without the burning or scarring. They were confined to watch this nightmarish storm tear apart the island they'd lived on all their lives.

"Ellie?!" Jacob cried out into the fog, in the hope of hearing a reply, but there was only the sound of wind and rain. All of a sudden, both Ellie and Jacob were encompassed by the bipedal creatures. They tried to punch and kick them away but the creatures were too fast, and flattened themselves, dodging all attempts at driving them off. They felt helpless to stop them, until suddenly, the powers of both the sword and staff kicked into them. The same mystical Keyblade Sora was wielding in the stained glass platform had now manifested in their hands just like the staff and sword. Jacob's Keyblade as sharp as his sword and Ellie's Keyblade as powerful as the staff.

Ellie could use hers to manipulate elements such as fire and ice against, and Jacob used his just like the sword. Jacob too could manipulate elements but wasn't as in tune as Ellie, and Ellie could attack but unable to strike through the heartless like Jacob could. They took out all that opposed them in the storm, and soon the fog cleared, but the sight they were greeted to wasn't a relief. Their island was consumed by the darkness and they still couldn't find each other.

Down on the beach stood a hooded figure, with a face shrouded by the same darkness consuming their home. Ellie immediately saw the figure and thought it was someone in need of help. She ran down using fire and ice to clear her way through the hordes. When she got down, she stood directly in front of the figure. To her everything went silent, and all she could see was the figure holding out its hand for her to take. Jacob finally got close enough to see them both, and ran down as fast as he could. Ellie reached out to the figure as it faded away, and suddenly, her legs were stuck unable to move from the ground, as she was reaching out to Jacob and Jacob reaching to her.

"Jacob, what's going on?!" She cried out to him.

"I can't move! Take my hand!" They were just in reach, the tips of their fingers touching. But the darkness had other plan. The ground split, and they drew further apart. "Ellie! Ellie I promise that I'll find you!" They both began to sink into the darkness and soon, they were blinded...


	3. Traverse Town

Waves is all Ellie could hear, darkness is all she could see. It was a cold breeze that woke her on the coast of a new world. There was no more darkness, no more island, and no more Jacob. Looking around she saw a town in the distance: Traverse Town. She didn't think it was too far and followed the road to it, and arrived withing minutes. Her eyes lit up with excitement at the sight of this new world, with a new ground, new sky, just new everything.

She spent awhile taking it all in, looking at the cafe's and shops. After about ten minutes or so, somebody finally approached her in all the excitement of this new world. It was a girl a few years older than Ellie, with short hair, a yellow scarf and carried a large Shuriken on her back. "Hello! You're not from around here, are you?" They said. Ellie paused for a moment, realizing that everyone is a new face.

"Um, hello. Could you tell me where I am?" Ellie asked nervously but eager to find out.

"You're in Traverse Town. I'm Yuffie!" Yuffie held out her hand to greet Ellie, and she accepted it with a soft handshake. "Since you're new here, I suppose Leon will want to see you." Suddenly things went silent in that area of town. Yuffie turned and gasped at the biped creature that spawned behind her. Ellie knew exactly what to do, she summoned her Keyblade and cleaned up the creature and any others that spawned with just a cast of fire. Yuffie watched in amazement knowing exactly where this was going, as she'd seen it before.

"Those things, what are they?!" Ellie asked. She'd seen them so much, and knew them so little, that she was starting to get frustrated with what to call them or what they were.

"Those are the Heartless," Yuffie said, "They're born from the darkness in people hearts, which I always thought was funny because if they're from hearts then why are they called the heartless?" Ellie was fascinated by this, and wanted to know more about them.

"Those things are Heartless born from the darkness in our hearts? That explains why they're so dark!"

"Yup, but those aren't the only ones, unfortunately." Yuffie gave a sigh. "You should come with me to see Leon, he'll be 'excited' to see the Keyblade you're holding there." Ellie looked at her Keyblade curiously. She'd completely forgotten that it came to her out of nowhere and knew nothing about it - yet. Ellie and Yuffie walked to a small house in the third district of Traverse Town. There, a tall man with long spiked hair stood. This was Leon.

"Welcome back, Yuffie" He said expectantly.

"Hey Leon! You'll never guess who I bought over today..." Yuffie got excited to see his reaction to the new Key-bearer. He turned to see Ellie, and was confused with who he was suppose to be guessing.

"I'm Leon. Who're you?"

"I'm Ellie, nice to meet you Leon. Yuffie said you'd like to see this." Ellie held up her hand summoning the Keyblade once more. She was starting to get the hang of this and was very impressed with herself, learning how to casually bring the Keyblade to her in various situations. Leon's eyes widened at the sight which he'd obviously seen before.

"Is that what I think it is?! I never thought I'd see one again..." Leon had his eyes fixated on it. He looked worried, and concerned.

"You've seen one of these before? Can you tell me what it is?" Ellie was determined to find out about the Keyblade.

"A Keyblade is a weapon which chooses its master. Only you can wield and summon it, like you just did. If you were to hand it to anyone like Yuffie and I, it would just go back to you." Leon explained.

"They're used to fight the Heartless. You must be really special to have one!" Yuffie added. Ellie got more intrigued about the Keyblade, but there were unfortunately more pressing matters needed to be talked about than finding out every secret behind the Keyblade and its powers.

"Why did it choose me? I never even knew Keyblade's existed."

"Because somebody is needed to use the Keyblade to close the Keyholes in worlds." Added a new voice. "I'm Aerith, it's great to meet you" she said, and held out her hand just like Yuffie did.

"It's lovely to make your acquaintance, Aerith" Ellie softly shook Aerith's hand like she did Yuffie's. "What Keyholes would you be referring to?" This conversation was making more questions than it answered. If only there was a book or something to clearly explain all Ellie wanted to know, since she enjoys reading books, and likes finding things out just as much.

"A Keyhole is what leads to the Heart of a world. It's what the Heartless are searching for, so they can devour the heart and the world crumbles from existence." Aerith answered. She knew only too well about worlds fading. Leon spoke up.

"People who survive turn up here... Like us and you."

"Our world was taken by the Heartless," Yuffie said "and we ended up here like other people that lost their worlds."

Ellie began to realize how dangerous the Heartless are and the threat they pose, and understood why Leon looked so worried and concerned at the Keyblade earlier. Now armed with a Keyblade ready to be summoned, and the Heartless threat, she saw opportunity to see more worlds, and felt responsibility to save them. Not only that, but there was also the subject of Jacob. Last she remembered was his echoed words that he'd find her, but she couldn't sit around and hope he found her, that was too unrealistic to happen. She had to act, and she definitely had the drive to do so.

"I guess I'm needed to close these Keyholes to the worlds then. I'll do it. I need to do it, there's someone I'm looking for." Ellie said this hoping that they'd be able to help her. She wasn't disappointed.

"There hasn't been a Keybearer for years! Ellie, we can help you." Yuffie bustled with excitement that Ellie was so eager to help.

"I should warn you that the Heartless can track you down because they use the Keyblade as a homing beacon. Your journey won't be easy by any stretch of the imagination." Aerith added, revealing more about the Keyblade. Despite this everyone still felt confident apart from Leon, who spoke up again.

"Going from world to world will be a difficult task, and I'm willing to help, but first you need to show us you know how to use the Keyblade. There's a Keyhole in every world which probably means that the one here in Traverse Town has opened up again. Yuffie and I will go with you to find it."

This was Ellie's last task before moving on to find other worlds, and search for Jacob. Ellie didn't respond, she simply took up her Keyblade and turned towards the door...


	4. Twilight Town

Ellie didn't entirely trust these new people she met. They seemed nice enough but she wasn't entirely sure why they would just help her, especially when they hardly knew anything other than Ellie was the Keybearer. However, she'd learned so much from them, and now was on a quest to find the Keyhole of Traverse town. Upon stepping out the door and down to a courtyard, the Heartless wasted no time in locking onto the Keyblade. But Ellie, Yuffie, and Leon wasted no time cleaning them up. They were nothing but scraps in no time between Ellie's Magic, Yuffie's Shuriken, and Leon's revolver sword. They continued on.

Jacob finally awoke, but upon opening his eyes, he still saw nothing. This wasn't him being blind, this was where he was. There was nothing but black everywhere, and even standing up didn't feel right. It felt like ground but there was nothing but darkness. Fortunately it was not the Heartless as he soon discovered when he stepped forward and into another realm. He gasped with relief and no longer felt claustrophobic from the darkness. However he had no idea where he was, until he spotted a sign: Twilight Town.

Some kids rushed past Jacob, almost knocking him on his feet, but he only just kept his balance. He still felt a bit fuzzy from what happened and couldn't quite remember where he was before the darkness. He was on the tip of knowing what happened until "Hey, you!" Jacob snapped his head to the side and saw somebody holding a club aiming it at him.

"Um, hey there! I'm kind of lost. Could you possibly tell me where I am?" Jacob asked, oblivious to the threat of the club. The guy holding the club looked back at one of his friends, confused about Jacob's reaction. They then turned back to Jacob with threatening glares. Jacob saw the danger then, and thought fast. "Oh, well, never mind. I should get going, see you around-" He turned to walk away but was quickly caught off guard. A swarm of Heartless came in, driving off those that threatened Jacob, but as soon as they ran for their lives, they turned their attention back to the one they were targeting.

Jacob, still unable to remember, had completely forgot about the Keyblade, and was shocked when it manifested back in his hand. Within seconds of looking at it he started to get flashes of what had happened before he got here. However there was no time to analyse, he had to strike. He made quick work of the few Heartless that stood in his way, but was slowly getting overwhelmed. It was like for every one he killed two would take its place. He was getting weighed down, one hit after another, and Jacob collapsed. He laid still on the floor, seeing nothing but his stretched out arm and the feet of Heartless.

However from this few, someone else entered the scene. Black shoes, the bottom of a black coat, and the disappearing of Heartless. It was like a guardian angel, until he blacked out again. He woke up on a train, feeling dizzy and tired. "What happened?" he said with a cracking voice.

"You got hurt. I know who you are, and what they were, but I don't think you know yet." somebody said in the seat in front of him.

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm Jacob."

"You know your name but do you know who you are?"

Jacob paused for a moment, trying to remember. Thankfully everything came back, but too quickly. "Ellie?!" He called out on the train. Everyone in the cabin turned to look at him, but they turned back to what they were doing seconds after. Jacob soon hushed his voice and started telling the person what had happened. "There was so much Darkness, I couldn't see, I couldn't even breathe. After that, I ended up in the Town, which is when the creatures jumped me and I found myself here with you." The train stopped, and the person stood up. They had a long tattered red scarf, and carried a huge sword on their back, longer than them.

"I'm Cloud, and it's nice to make your acquaintance," He held his hand out for Jacob, "Keybearer." Jacob took Clouds hand and stood up.

At this time, Ellie, Yuffie and Leon had begun to follow up leads on where the Keyhole could be. One of the leads was the three bells on the fountain. "Keybearer, what do you think? We can go check out the fountain or follow more leads?" Leon said.

"I'd like to check out the fountain. Though I'm not sure how a Keyhole would be there." Ellie replied. She took the lead and followed the signs to the bell tower. Across from the bell tower was the fountain, which they took a look at. "Can we get up to the bell tower?"

"You'd need permission from the Moogles!" Yuffie answered. "They're usually friendly, especially to potential customers. They do synthesizing in their shop above Cid's general store. They have the key to the bell tower and you'll need that to get in." Ellie took initiative and headed to the market district to find the Moogles store, which she found in no time. The signs in the town made it easy to get places and combined with Ellie's excellent initiative, worked great.

"Welcome, Kupo!" A Moogle had said. "What can you we do for you today, Kupo? We offer synthesizing, buying, selling, anything you need, we got it, Kupo!"

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind letting us into the bell tower?" Ellie asked hesitantly. The Moogles paused and stared at each other for a second, and nodded looking back to Ellie holding out the key.

"Here ya go, Kupo! Please lock up when you're done, Kupo!" The Moogles carried on with their synthesizing and buying and selling. Ellie left and Yuffie looked very pleased at the keys.

"They're so nice aren't they? I wouldn't want to get on their bad side though. They have an 'ultimate weapon' apparently which they're saving for something. I'm sure you and them will be fine!" Ellie smiled back at Yuffie, and Leon started to follow on, keeping a look out for the Heartless. Ellie nodded back at Yuffie with a smile and carried on to the bell tower. When they got in, there was lots of different machinery turned on, with huge spinning cogs. They didn't take two steps before being ambushed by another wave of Heartless though. Ellie got the idea to start calling them hopeless since they never win. After cleaning another floor of Heartless, they continued up a ladder to the top, and got to the bell.

"Well give it a ring!" Ellie told Leon. He pulled down on the rope three times. Each time the wall behind the fountain turned. On the third it revealed a shimmering Keyhole. They were astonished by the sight, and ran down to the fountain as quickly as possible. Once there, Ellie walked up to the Keyhole, holding out the blade. Everything was perfectly tranquil, and they couldn't wait to finish the job - until they were disturbed.

A construct of Guard Armour (Gauntlets, Hammerlegs, and an armoured torso), slammed down from above. Its pieces moved freely and slammed down on the trio with its hands and feet. They quickly moved out of the way and readied their weapons. "Guess the Keyhole will need to wait, right Leon?!" Yuffie joked. Leon swung his sword at the Guard Armour, striking a blow at its foot, but bouncing right back.

"Right Yuffie! Keybearer, our weapons won't be strong enough to get through Heartless armour!" Leon shouted. Ellie blasted it with ice, but the magic wasn't strong enough to hold it back. She realised she'd need to use the blade itself on the Guard Armour, which fortunately she had no problem doing. The three of them confused the Heartless and split up, striking from behind and in front. This guy wasn't any pushover however, and fiercely fought back, slamming the ground with brute force.

Quickly Ellie jumped up attacked with a sharp and crippling blow to the Guard Armour's torso. It scurried away for safety, whilst it transformed, flipping the torso upside down. This was known as Opposite Armour. It was stronger and more agile, which Ellie, Leon, and Yuffie didn't want to get hit by anytime soon. They took up a defensive formation, which they used to their advantage, driving it back. Ellie felt she could really rely on these people to what her back, and that's exactly what they did. Not one hit got through to the Keybearer, and all to the Heartless.

Finally, after a good portion of the hour fighting, it fell apart. Ellie dented, froze and then _smashed _through the Heartless. The pieces fell and faded away around them as they caught their breath. "Thank you so much, guys. I don't think I could've done it with out you." Ellie said heavily breathing. Yuffie smiled and even Leon looked pleased with the result.

"Well what are you waiting for! Close the Gateway, Keybearer!" Yuffie ordered jokingly. Ellie swung the Keyblade around and aimed it at the hole. A beam of light shot out of the edge, and into the Keyhole. There was a beautiful light as it closed, and they felt like they were in the presence of a miracle. It was a job well done, experience well earned, and a friendship sealed by the Keyblade.


	5. The Gummi

There was a chill in the air as Cloud and Jacob exited the train and onto the platform of Twilight Station. Every breath they took was followed by smoke, and the dawn turned to dusk. Cloud became wary and slowly stretched out his hand to his sword, keeping it sheathed but ready for whatever was about to come. "What's going on, Cloud?" Jacob asked. Cloud carried on walking down the platform, gesturing for Jacob to follow.

"Someone is watching us. Well, when I say someone, I mean something."

Jacob followed Cloud, ready to summon his Keyblade at any moment. The train drove away, no one else had actually got off on this stop. "Where is everyone? At least one of the people in our cab would've got off here, right?" Cloud didn't answer, instead he just side stepped across the seemingly unending platform. Jacob was eager to follow and find out what was happening, with hope maybe Cloud would reveal what's going on.

Cloud stopped all of a sudden, looking around the platform. He then sprinted to the station door, breaking it open with a loud smash. "Go inside, I'll follow!" He nudged Jacob through the door, but before he could follow through, it was slammed by the wind. Jacob tried to get them open but Cloud already knew what was happening. All Jacob could do now was watch through the window paned door.

A fog of black smoke covered the platform. When it cleared, there was a hooded figure standing across from Cloud. Jacob could see them talking but couldn't hear what they were saying. He made out that Cloud was shouting at the figure, and soon after readied The Buster Sword. Jacob had absolutely no idea what was going on, but before he knew it, the figure summoned a Keyblade.

"Cloud?!" He shouted "Cloud, what's happening out there?" There was no reply, just the clash of Keyblade and sword. As impressive as Cloud was at fighting, there was an obvious struggle for him. The figure didn't let up, smashing Cloud down over and over again. Cloud kept trying to build up his momentum with dives and kicks but was foiled by the Keyblade possessed by the figure.

Jacob took initiative and summoned his own Keyblade, and used it to break down the door. However, both Cloud and the figure were down the other side of the platform. Jacob ran as fast as he could to them, but he saw the figure towering over his new friend. It raised the Keyblade and struck Cloud to the heart, then faded in a puff of smoke. Jacob skidded to Cloud's side. Cloud choked on his words but muttered out a "G-Goodbye" Before passing away. His body faded and heart shot up into the air, fading away.

He began thinking of Ellie more and more. That she could find him and wake him up from this horrible nightmare, and then they'd go down to the beach and find shells together. And maybe he could've finally shared a Paopu with her, which he still had. "Paopu... They say if you share it with someone you care about, we'll remain a part of each others lives, no matter what." But now, he believed there was no guarantee of that.

"I guess you've really proved yourself to be the Keybearer." Leon said with a small grin on his face.

"There's no time to waste then, lets get you ready to face the other worlds!" Yuffie added, very excited to get Ellie on the path to saving worlds. "We'll need to go see Cid." Ellie immediately remembered where Cid's was in the Market district.

"Lets get going then!" Ellie replied, eager to go on her adventure. She led the way to the market district and to Cid's general store. Upon arriving, Leon walked up to Cid and had a hushed conversation. Once they were done, Cid walked over to Ellie.

"Leon tells me you're the Keybearer... is it true?" Cid asked. Ellie looked over to Leon, and he nodded. She then held out her hand and summoned the Keyblade, and Cid's eyes widened. He didn't expect to see such a majestic weapon again in his life. "You'd best follow me outside then!" Cid rushed to the door. Ellie caught up to Cid as he went to his other shop outside. Above it the words "Gummi Garage!"

"I bet you're wondering what a Gummi is. Well a Gummi is what's going to get you out of here!" Cid said excitedly. Ellie breathed heavily with excitement to see new worlds, and maybe even find Jacob.

"What have I got to do?!" Ellie asked. Cid pulled up a crate from behind the counter and began searching it, throwing out lots of precious looking things that he deemed useless at this moment. Finally, he pulled out a pair of keys.

"Follow me!" He ran back behind the store. Ellie, Yuffie and Leon ran too. Behind it there was a huge object covered up by a sheet. Cid looked so excited to reveal his surprise to them, "I must let you know, I didn't build this myself. I've been keeping it safe, since it was given to me - years ago..." He held the sheet with one hand, and braced himself before pulling it off. Ellie stood, staring with anticipation.

Cid began dragging the sheet off of the object, and revealed a Gummi. A large ship, with 3 seats, for Ellie, Yuffie and Leon. "That's a Gummi?" Ellie asked.

"Yup, and it'll take us to other worlds" Leon replied, and he walked over Cid taking the Keys and going inside. "Coming, Keybearer?" Ellie paused, thinking of everything that has happened to her. It was all so much to take in, The Keyblade, the Heartless, the Keyholes, the Gummi - Jacob and the Island.

Ellie ordered her thoughts, and took a step towards the Gummi. She focused on one thing at a time, firstly new worlds, secondly dealing with Heartless. Finding Jacob was important but she needed to think of herself first, and rightly so. She climbed into the Gummi with Yuffie and took a seat. "Where to first, then?!" Ellie asked.

Cid stood waving goodbye to them, and then stood back as the Gummi began take off. It lifted itself from the ground, Leon at the helm. "Wherever is in front of us I guess." Leon replied. They then blasted off, excited to see new worlds. The anticipation building up as they made headway.

Jacob sat there, alone. He wasn't sure what to do with himself after losing Cloud. He hadn't said anything about where they were going before passing away beforehand. All that was left was this empty platform in the nighttime, and a lost lonely boy - But then a train pulled up to the platform...


	6. The Tower

When the train pulled up, Jacob had just been hanging onto his last thread of happiness. Relief came upon him that he may be able to find someone to help him, or at the very least go somewhere people could help him to find Ellie. However, it was ominous. This convenient train almost taunted him with promises of people and places, and as alone as Jacob was, he felt like the train was his company.

He slowly stepped of the platform and into this train, going inside and taking a seat. All the cabins were empty, but still Jacob didn't feel alone. He sat back almost excited about where he might end up. An adventure, a new world, this was what him and Ellie always wanted and he was slowly coming to that realization that as scary as it was there's a silver lining.

In a short while, the train stopped. Barely 2 minutes had passed and they were already at their destination, and with no windows to speak of, Jacob was walking out blind. Now he realized that new worlds require caution and courage, and quests require initiative and purpose. He gathered all that he had, plus his Keyblade, and took on step out the door.

"So when can I drive?" Ellie asked Leon in awe.

"Not right now. I haven't been in a Gummi for years, I'm trying to concentrate." Leon replied, backing up his statement with focus on the navigation computer and steering. "There's plenty of worlds but I'm not sure where to go to first. Perhaps you should choose." He asked Ellie. She quickly stood up and rushed over to take a look at the navigation computer and see what there was. Many spheres and circles were being shown. The spheres worlds and the circles courses, and many to choose from.

"What's that one?" Ellie pointed to a sphere with what looked to resemble a train in front of a tall tower.

Yuffie smiled and replied "Our next course! Step on it Leon." Leon input the course and went as fast as he could, however Gummi travel wasn't the fastest it could be. It'd be an hour to them before they get there, and even longer for those on this world.

Jacob was astonished at the sight of the tower. It was around fifteen stories tall, and in comparison he felt like an ant. It wasn't until he got over the tower he noticed the train floating off the edge. Bellow it the sky. All around the tower and the island it was on was a purple and blue sky with distant stars. "This has given me a whole new perspective on other worlds out there..." Jacob said, a huge grin on his face.

He walked towards the tower, taking in every sight possible. Every star, ever step, ever level of the tower. There was so much to look at, even the train was a glowing emerald green. When he reached the doors of the castle, which were two stories at least, he wasted now time on going inside. Of course, being as polite as he could, he knocked first before getting no response and inviting himself in, too curious to resist.

The doors were light considering their size, but the towers was as beautiful on the inside as it was on the out. "This really isn't the same architecture as Twilight Towns" he said jokingly. It was so perfect that not even the thousands upon thousands of steps spiraling up the towers walls daunted him. He felt like he was being fed energy, enough to get um them without any problems.

He took one small step before dashing his way up them like an escalator. It was magnificent to not feel loss of breath or aching joints like he'd feel on the island when attempting to race, and it was better to feel the wind cooling him without the need to stop for a drink. But it couldn't of been that easy, because when he got half way up, The Heartless attacked. Spawning in front of him as fast as he was making steps.

He made the obvious move and summoned the Keyblade, striking down each and every Heartless on his way. There was no stopping him from reaching the top, but in fact he felt like the Heartless were speeding up his progress, encouraging him to get there. He'd now reached the very end of these stairs and finished the remainder of the Heartless, and found a door which seems sealed by a Keyhole to this world.

He looked at his Keyblade and back at the Keyhole, and realized what to do. Just like Ellie had closed the Keyhole at Traverse Town, Jacob closed the one here. This revealed to him the sturdy old wooden door, which was all that was in his way of finding out why lies at the top. He slowly pushed it open, revealing a ransacked office.

He was quite shocked at what he found, there was an obvious struggle between whoever was here. Absolutely nothing to be found other than a notebook. The notebook contained details about the Keybearer, the Keyblade, and other various things, such as the sinister faction Organization XIII. He picked it up and sat down in one of the few unbroken chairs. Quickly he flicked through it, deciding that the information would be better off taken in later once he figured out what to do.

He started to look through drawers, desperate to find an answer of what happened and why. Instead all he found was keys and a note saying "Gummi out back. Take the teleporter to find it." He didn't understand that but he immediately knew to consult the notebook he found. Taking a look at the index which somebody had neatly ordered out, he found the page on teleporters, how to use them, what they looked like and where some were.

One of the teleporter locations was in this very room. He looked over at the desk then back at the notebook, then he heaved the desk to the side of the room. After he lifted up a rug which covered up the teleporter. Following the guidelines in the book carefully, he stood center in the circle and stamped his foot. He was surrounded by the same emerald green glow that he saw on the train, and as it cleared he saw a Gummi.

Hours later, Ellie, Leon, and Yuffie arrived her at the tower. However, there was no train to speak of. "We should tread carefully here. It's a sensitive world, you could see practically the universe and its end with a telescope here." Leon said, walking slowly towards the tower.

"I concur" Ellie said "There's no telling who or what we'll find here..." There was a chill in the air, the worlds started to look darker and the island and tower shadowed. A dramatic change from when Jacob had arrived. Yuffie looked around at the ground and saw the small markings of fresh footprints in the soil.

"Someone was here earlier... I guess we missed them." Yuffie said. They all walked closely together toward the tower, on the lookout for any Heartless that may lurk. When they reached the door, it was already wide open from when somebody had been here, and that worried them.

"I know this tower" Leon said "It's very old, magnificent at one point, not that it still is." They didn't feel the same energy force Jacob did. The tower was almost drained of its powers, dying. The spiral staircase would not prove a challenge to the experienced trio however. This took them straight to the top, and not a Heartless in sight. Despite that, they kept their weapons ready, their wits about them, and themselves together as they entered the ransacked room...


	7. Hooded Figure?

Ellie, Leon, and Yuffie, were wary. They prepared themselves and slowly creaked open the door. It revealed the ransacked room which was slowly gathering dust. Ellie walked in first, looking around at every piece of furniture that laid around. Yuffie and Leon followed after and began inspecting different things. A bookshelf caught Ellie's eye and she began to go through it immediately - intrigued by their names and descriptions.

"What do you think happened here?" Yuffie asked the group. Leon shrugged, and continued to look around. Ellie stood up with a book she found, looking at its blurb and reading it out to them.

" 'A Guide to the worlds is a dictionary of all the worlds we have discovered thus far. Over 30 pages of worlds and their locations, all for your convenience.' "

Leon turned to Ellie, curious about the book and what worlds it may contain. "What's that about a dictionary or worlds?" He asked.

"It's supposed to contain at least 30 pages, but nearly all of them are missing." She held out the book for them to see, "See. only the first page is here..."

Leon was disappointed, but the information on the first page was still helpful to him. Five worlds were listed on the page, one of which was traverse town. The other four included Twilight Town, The Kingdom, Colosseum, and Merlin's Tower. This opened up completely new possibilities for the trio, deciding on where to go next. "Well at least our decisions are narrowed down. Plus, we might find some of the pages in these worlds!" Yuffie said optimistically.

"I'll keep hold of the book for later. First, lets find out what happened here, and then we can decide where we want to go next." Ellie said, putting the book in a bag she brought with her. "What's that?" She pointed to the teleporter.

"Just looks like a stone slab in the center of the room to me" Leon said. Ellie stood over it, curious about what it was after seeing symbols that were carved into it on the books.

"Can you hand me one of the books with that symbol on it?" Ellie said to Leon. He grabbed one, and handed it to Ellie. She skim read through it, looking for something about the stone. She got flicked through a couple pages and chapters in 'The Book of Relics' until she found a drawing of the symbol, and the teleporter.

"Found it!" She exclaimed.

"What is it?!" Yuffie asked excitedly.

"It's a teleporter, you see?" She presented the drawing to Yuffie and pointed out keywords on the page about it being a teleporter. "It says there used to be hundreds of these spread across the worlds thousands of years ago, but now they've either been lost or destroyed. Most of the ones still around don't work."

"What good is a broken teleporter to us then?" Leon asked.

"We don't know if it's broken _yet_, Leon." Ellie snapped back. "It says here that some teleporters are activated via stamping a foot. Think it's worth a try?"

"Go for it!" Yuffie implored. Ellie lifted her left leg, and stamped down on the teleporter. Within seconds she was gone in an emerald green beam of light, where she appeared at the Gummi platform. Yuffie and Leon looked at each other in shock, and immediately jumped on one at a time to follow Ellie. When they appeared at the Gummi platform, Ellie was already up on it, looking around.

Leon and Yuffie ran up onto the empty platform. There were markings of a recent take off, but no sign of who. It didn't explain what happened in the tower either, and they hadn't made much progress. "Well at least we now know whoever _was_ here also has their own Gummi!" Yuffie said, like the optimist she was.

"I couldn't find any clue to where they were going, or even a computer to possibly say the last time it was used" Ellie said. None of them felt like their work was finished here, but they knew it was time to move on. With nothing but a glance at each others faces, they started to walk back to their own Gummi.

Jacob sat at the helm of his Gummi, flicking through the notebook and reading the entries made. It was obviously the field report of someone who had been studying the different worlds and all their histories, and it was unfinished. He was trying to decide where to go next with the aid of the book, and there were so many choices. He took a bit of time to decide but eventually found a place that caught his attention: Traverse Town.

"Well, better not waste anymore fuel in this thing, and go check out Traverse Town." He said to himself. He entered it into the navigation computer with the help of the notebook, which had become his 'How To' guide. He sat down, looking forward to arriving at Traverse Town. New Worlds awaited him, and possibly Ellie, whom he wanted to find dearly. It was as if no time had passed by when he arrived at Traverse Town.

He looked out the window at the world with awe, as if Twilight Town and The Tower hadn't been enough. He quickly consulted the notebook once again to land the Gummi. Within no time it was safely on the ground and he was going towards the Town. The air was new, it seemed like everywhere he went there was new air, with a very noticeable change in atmosphere. He didn't think he'd ever get used to it.

When he arrived into town, there was a daunting silence. Nobody was there. There was nothing but locked buildings and cold streets. Jacob expected a tumbleweed to role by any moment now - But there was nothing. Jacob became wary, and started to pace through the streets, which were dark and ominous. Jacob had taken many steps before he realized her could hear steps that weren't his. He stopped.

The footsteps he heard were getting closer to him. He kept his hands ready for summoning his Keyblade, and twisted around on one foot, and saw a hooded figure. He jumped with shock and fell backwards. He started to crawl back as it walked towards him, but he knew it would be inevitable and stopped...


	8. Nobodies

Jacob looked up from the ground at the hooded figures black face. It looked back into his soul with the shadows that filled the hood, and it was terrifying. Its weapon manifested on its back, and Jacob's in his hand. As it was unsheathed, Jacob realized this wasn't the same figure that struck Cloud down. The weapon _was_ Cloud's. The exact same sword, wrapped in bandages, as long as him, and as sharp as a lions fang.

"Cloud?!" Jacob yelled, hopeful the figure would stop, and it did. It curiously looked at the weapon, as if it was trying to remember. The weapon then evaporated, the figure pulled down its hood, and the shadows were lifted. Cloud's hair flourished out, he looked at Jacob, then down at himself. Almost in a hurry, he faded away. Jacob sat up confused about what just happened. He put away the Keyblade and stood back up. The sounds of people came back to Traverse Town, which were comforting after what he just witnessed.

He followed the sounds of people to the Market district of Traverse Town. To him it was exhilarating. The lights, the stalls, the shops, the crowds, it was all very new to him. Whilst all this was going on, he was still trying to fathom what happened with him and Cloud. Who were the hooded figures and why did he keep seeing them. He took refuge in a nearby library and immediately consulted the notebook.

Ellie, Yuffie, and Leon now sat in their Gummi looking out to the Tower, and around at all the worlds, beginning to look dark. "We should get going" Ellie said.

"Decided where yet?" Leon asked. Ellie looked in the book again, scrolling her finger down the page before quickly picking out.

"Twilight Town. We'll go there." She entered the co-ordinates into the navigation computer, taking them to Twilight Town. They arrived and walked into town, relatively filled with people shopping and walking around. There was a clock tower, a few shops, many different posters around.

"Doesn't look like there's any Heartless here" Yuffie said. Then a few people ran past time, looking scared from something.

"What's got them in such a hurry?" Ellie said, confused. They followed the people to a courtyard, where they stopped and all sat down for a break.

"What are you running from?" Leon asked. A guy wearing a long white coat, and short blue vest stood up. He held out his hand to Leon.

"I'm Seifer. this is Fuu, Rai, and Vivi." Leon ignored Seifer's hand and Seifer lowered his after not getting a response. Ellie stepped up and took over from Leon.

"You all look like you've seen something unexplainable." Ellie said, in an attempt to pry information from them. They all sat there, looking more focused on withholding information rather than sharing it. Seifer then spoke up.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told yo-" He was interrupted by Fuu. She stood up, and pushed Seifer out of the way.

"Seifer, Rai, Vivi, and I were looking for Hayner when we suddenly ran past this random kid who came out of nowhere. Seifer decided to-"

"I decided to greet the new kid and welcome him to Twilight Town..." Seifer said, in an attempt to cover up his shady personality. Fuu then carried on.

"Yes. And when he - 'greeted' the new kid, these black creatures came out of the blue." Ellie, Yuffie and Leon got intrigued and Yuffie stepped in.

"Where was this? How can we get there?" Yuffie questioned, putting the group on the spot. They all thought for a second and remembered where.

"The station! It was at Twilight Station. You can follow the signs there. It's not too far, you should be able to get there in time. Don't know why you'd want to though, those things could still be there." Seifer said, but little did he know that they were counting on the Heartless still being there. Without as little as a goodbye, Ellie, Yuffie, and Leon went to Twilight station in the hope of finding clues.

When they arrived, they heard the clock tower bell ring. They saw the time was six in the afternoon, and realised how early it still looked around. "Weird, the sun is at midday position." Yuffie said. They all looked up at the sun and the clock, confused. They were then disrupted by the sound of crashing coming from a nearby alleyway. They quickly walked toward it and looked around the corner to see knocked over crates. They then saw something white, thin, and flexible run out of the alleyway and chased it.

Ellie ran ahead, but as soon as she got out of the alleyway, Yuffie and Leon were barricaded by a wall. They could only see it when hit, and it made a purple wave which quickly faded. "Ellie, we'll find another way around!" Leon said, then him and Yuffie ran off to find another way to the courtyard Ellie was in. Ellie turned to the courtyard and out jumped the white, flexible creature with a zip for its mouth.

Ellie took the basic routine, and struck at it with her Keyblade, just like she would with any Heartless. When it suddenly dodged out of the way and dashed behind her, she knew she wasn't dealing with a Heartless. There was a sign on its forehead, one that she'd seen in the bookcase back at the tower. "What are you?" she rhetorically asked. it then dashed at her and she realized she could use the momentum of the Keyblade to swing around behind it. "Oh, guess you wanna play _rough_" she said, whilst striking at it from behind with a fire ball.

The creature was hit but once again dodged the second attack. Ellie realized how to defeat, and so she kept swinging around, striking, and swinging around, and striking until the creature burst into flames. Leon and Yuffie finally found there way around, and saw Ellie had defeated it. "What was that thing?" Yuffie asked. Ellie put away the Keyblade and turned to Yuffie and Leon.

"It wasn't a Heartless." She said. "It was fast, agile, and there was a symbol on its head. One that I'd seen in the tower."

"We'll have to deal with that later." Leon said.

"I concur. Lets continue to Twilight Station." Ellie then led the way to Twilight Station eager to find out what had happened there with Heartless, which she most assuredly knew were once there.

Jacob found a corner in the library where he sat quietly looking through the notebook. He found a section on the hooded figures, who were known as Nobodies. These were created whenever a heart was swallowed by darkness to become a Heartless, and the remaining parts were left behind to create a 'Nobody form.' At first he was confused, because he didn't see cloud turn to a Heartless.

He thought about the possibilities, that maybe Cloud could've been in the process of being consumed. Of course, Jacob didn't know much about Cloud, so he couldn't really say much, only theorize. The description matched Cloud, so there was no doubt he was a nobody, but there was still the case of how. "Cloud, what happened to you?" Jacob said, hushed.

He decided it was time to leave and look around the Town some more. He stood up, put the notebook away, and walked out. The Market was quieter now that it was nighttime and he felt obliged to look around the stalls. He then saw the Gummi stall, which Cid ran. This opened up a window of opportunity to find out more about his Gummi, due to the notebook being vague apart from how to use it.

"Um hello!" Jacob said at the stall.

"Hello young man. I haven't seen you here before. Where you from?" Cid asked.

"I came here in a Gummi. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about it?"

Cid paused, and wondered how Jacob had a Gummi. "What's your name?"

"I'm Jacob."

"I'm Cid, nice to meet you Jacob." Cid shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Cid. So about my Gummi-"

"How and where did you get your Gummi?"

Jacob wasn't sure what to tell Cid, due to him not being sure himself where it was he got the Gummi. "I think you better come look for youself..."


	9. Closer

Twilight Town at this time of day was suddenly a bustle. Most people were on their way to the station for work, or school, or whatever they needed to attend daily. This slowed Leon, Ellie and Yuffie down considerably, and was going to affect their search for Heartless just as badly. "There's no way we'll be able to find the Heartless in these crowds" Ellie said, frustrated with the commotion.

"We'll have to wait for everyone to be gone before doing anything then." Said Leon, equally annoyed. They all found a quiet place to sit near the station, and they watched the people rush past them and onto the trains. Minutes went by, then it was hours. The three occupied themselves by talking about what they thought the Heartless might be doing here, but not in force. It was strange behavior because usually the Heartless attack worlds in force.

Leon suggested the world was closed off but a few Heartless kept leaking through by accident. Yuffie believed they were coming into a closed world through leaks, but not by accident, and assumed they had a purpose, and were being directed by someone or something that didn't want to be noticed. Ellie suggested that maybe there were no Heartless here, and what they think may be Heartless at the station are in fact more of the fast and agile creatures that she had fought back in the courtyard.

It didn't feel like a very long wait with all their debating, and they agreed that all are possible, but maintained strong beliefs that their own theories were the most likely. They noticed the noise had died down, and now the station was clear of lines and talking and waiting. "Time to go" Ellie said as she stood up. They all moved in swiftly to look around. There was nobody there save the ticket sellers.

"What's this?" Leon said, kneeling by a puddle of black ooze.

"Get away from it!" Ellie shouted, unsheathing her Keyblade. Leon quickly backed off and took out his own weapon, Yuffie the same. "From what I've gather, those things are Heartless portals." She spoke too soon. A Heartless climbed out of the ooze and a dozen more followed. Thankfully, the station had closed up minutes before, so the Heartless weren't spotted by anyone. Leon, Ellie, and Yuffie dispatched the unwelcome Heartless and the puddle faded.

"That was definitely Heartless." Yuffie stated. There was a chill in the air, but nothing changed about their surroundings. In fact, they all realized that despite hours of waiting for the crowds to clear up, the sun had stayed in the same place. They looked at each other with confusion, and Ellie spoke up.

"Do you guys notice it too?"

"Yes, yes I do" said Leon.

"Uh huh" Yuffie said, nodding and looking up at the sun.

"What do you think it is?" Ellie asked them.

"No idea, but there's definitely more to this world than we suspected." Yuffie said. Leon simply shook his head.

Jacob brought Cid to see his Gummi. Immediately, Cid was curious. Its design was unique, and he'd never seen anything quite like it before. None of the Gummi parts he held at his own shop could customize a fully built Gummi to look like this one, never mind perform like it did.

Its wings curved upwards on one half and down on the other. The nose was a cone, en-crested with many different modules which made the Gummi faster, more agile and more powerful. The cockpit had room for three - the average Gummi's space - However the storage was immense. Every chair had its own compartment, and there were lockers by the door. There was not one, not two, but three chests under the controls. This Gummi had enough storage to live in it. The Tail of the ship was shaped like fishes, and was modified with flares. Its weapons were mounted on the top and the bottom. No doubt the previous owners had troubles with Heartless when flying their Gummi, Cid deducted.

"The closest thing I have to knowing who the previous owner was is this notebook I found. I came across it at this tower, and everything inside was ransacked. Whoever wrote this book must also own the Gummi." Jacob said. He showed the notebook to Cid, and Cid proceeded to inspect it.

"Do you mind?" Cid asked.

"Not at all" Jacob replied, handing it over. Cid flicked through the pages, frantically looking for a name. Instead he became interested in the contents, and realized that there was no name to be found. "I didn't find a name either. I've gone through every page in that notebook and not one mention of the author is there." Cid closed the book, almost disappointed.

"It didn't talk much about this Gummi specifically. It leads me to assume that they knew enough about their own Gummi, that they didn't need to write it down. However if they did, then they wouldn't have wrote as much as they have. Jacob, where are you from?"

"I came from an island, but one night something terrible happened. That notebook said The Heartless devour worlds... Is that true?"

Cid sighed, "I regret to tell you that yes. Yes it's true, Jacob." Jacob sat down in one of the chairs in the Gummi. Cid also sat down, still examining it. Jacob's thoughts focused on Ellie, and whether or not he'd see her again. "Many people have lost their worlds, recently. But there's still hope. I've met the Keybearer, and they're out there right now saving the worlds and working to destroy the Heartless!"

Jacob heard a _key _word from Cid. "Keybearer?! You mind kind of like this" He summoned his Keyblade and stood up. Cid also stood up with excitement as his eyes widened.

"Another Keybearer?!" Cid said, "I didn't think I'd ever see two in one week! Well, I- I didn't think I'd see one..."

"Where did the other Keybearer go? How can I find them? What exactly is the Keybearer?" Jacob couldn't fit in enough questions, there was so much he wanted and needed to know. Cid felt overwhelmed at did one at a time, starting with what he knew best.

"The Keybearer didn't have a specific course, I couldn't tell you where they went. You could find them by going to different worlds yourself, asking about them though." Jacob nodded, listening and writing it down in the empty pages of the notebook. "The Keybearer is someone that wields the Keyblade like the one you possess. With it, you can close the Keyholes to worlds, which will prevent the Heartless from destroying them."

Jacob looked through the notebook and at the various worlds in it. "So will every world have a Keyhole?"

"Yes, and some may have already been closed before you got there by the Keybearer you're looking for. Jacob, I wish you all the best of luck." Cid walked out of the Gummi and looked back up at Jacob.

"Thank you, Cid." Jacob waved as the doors closed. Cid waved back, and when the doors closed, that Gummi took off. Everything was falling into place and Jacob felt closer to finding Ellie. He sat down, consulted the notebook, and chose his next destination...


	10. The Video

"I think it's time we return to the Gummi, and find out what's going on here." Ellie said, shuffling in the direction to leave. Leon and Yuffie nodded in agreement and followed on. They had parked the Gummi outside of Twilight Town, in some woods which had a crack in the wall leading to Tram Common. They went to Tram common, then through the crack to find their Gummi in the woods, however it was nowhere to be seen.

"Either we've lost the Gummi, or someone has taken it." Leon said, looking around the woods. The woods were quiet, nothing to be seen except some wildlife in the trees, and a mansion in the distance which Ellie spotted.

"What's that?" Ellie pointed to the mansion, and they all went to it in search of their Gummi. The mansion gates were locked and the courtyard was empty, with no sign of their Gummi. Ellie took out the Keyblade and opened the gates. Inside the courtyard, several more of those white things appeared as menacing as ever. The three stood back to back ready for them, however they did nothing but stand and watch.

"I guess they were expecting us." Yuffie said. The three put away their weapons, and observed the creatures. They stood swaying left and right, almost impatiently. They heard creaking come from the mansion doors as they opened, almost inviting them inside.

"What are these things? They're not Heartless..." Leon said, resisting the urge to touch one. Ellie slowly walked towards the door, her Keyblade ready. There was a chilling breeze from inside, but everything was still silent. They all went in one by one, the foyer empty apart from a few broken busts, and rubble from a crumbling ceiling. Most of the doors were blocked off except for one.

They looked around, finding the only unblocked door on the right hand side. They went through to reveal a library, where there was a bust looking down at the floor, a large open window, several bookcase, a desk, and rug on the floor. Unlike the foyer, the Library was undamaged and almost in new condition. The three looked around the room, Leon at the bookshelves, Yuffie out the window and Ellie investigated the bust.

"Nothing out there except for leaves and grass." Yuffie said, and sighed. Leon was pulling out the books one at a time, looking for a mechanism to reveal a secret door, unfortunately after pulling out all the books that were on display, the only thing left was dust.

"Nothing here either." He said, and piled the books back up neatly. They were for the most part at a loss, other than the bust. Ellie reached around the back of it, seeing if she could find anything. As she lifter her hand to the back of the faceless head, she felt a small bump.

"I found something!" she exclaimed, and the others ran over to here. "I think it's a button..." She carefully pulled it so as not to cause the bust to fall off. _Click -_ That was the sound of the button slotting in. For a brief moment nothing happened, until they heard the sound of moving furniture. They turned around and saw a beam cause the floor of the other two thirds of the library floor to disappear, revealing a room underneath.

The room's walls were lined with metal, and there was a door. "Oh look, they've got a cellar. I bet they'll have lots of the 'usual' things down there. You know, boxes, a washing machine, tumble dryer; maybe a mini-bar" Yuffie said, with a sarcastic tone. Ellie smirked at the remark and added her own sarcasm.

"Guess we better go down and check it out. This wasn't hidden or anything, we must be invited." She headed down the staircase, and through the door, Yuffie and Leon just paces behind her. Through the door there was a terminal in the corner, a screen on the wall, and another door. "What are all these numbers?" Ellie asked about the screen, which was displaying and adding more and more codes of numbers every second.

"It's code, calculations." Leon said.

"Calculations for what? I'm not an expert on code, but I'm pretty sure a computer doesn't process that much information for video buffering."

"Hmm. Something very big, that needs a lot of processing power. Processing power the size of the terminal over there." Leon crossed his arms and looked over to the terminal. Ellie walked over to it, and sat on the chair in front. With a tap of the screen, the terminal turned itself on. The screens displayed what looked like Twilight Town, but it was empty. There was also a video ready to be played, of security footage of the room.

"I wonder what this is." Ellie said as she reached to play it.

"This place hasn't been used in a long time" A voice in the video said. They walked into the room, wearing a black coat, their hood up.

"That's because it hasn't been needed. But we got lucky today." Said a much deeper, and more eloquent voice. However this figure was off-screen. The figure walked over to the wall next to the terminal, and held his hand against it. This revealed a small alcove, with an electronic eye lens above it. "Bring them in, one at a time."

The Hooded figure walked out the door, and came back in, dragging a knocked out Leon. "Squall Leonhart. He comes from Hollow Bastion."

"Put him in, then. No need to waste my time with pointless names." The figure did as he said, dragging Leon under then lens. Leon watched with shock, and carefully observed as the hooded figure pressed something on the terminal, causing the lens to beam Leon to somewhere unknown. "We must move quickly. There's no telling how long it'll be before The Heartless find out what we're doing."

Next, Yuffie was dragged in, also unconscious. "This one also comes from Hollow Bastion." The same routine was then done with Yuffie, who watched in horror at the same beam that took away Leon to the unknown.

"When did this happen?! I don't remember anything, I swear." Yuffie interrupted.

_"shh- _What are they doing now?" Ellie said, focusing on the video as it got to her turn...

"Last one, and she's definitely special." The Hooded figure said, as he brought in Ellie, fast asleep like Leon and Yuffie before her.

"If it wasn't for her, this load would've been pointless. We haven't seen someone with a Keyblade for - so long."

"This one's name is Ellanor, or Ellie for short. Lucky for us, the Keyblade doesn't have the mind to wake her up, otherwise this would've been a much harder collection."

"Hm, well if we don't get this done now, then we're going to find it harder to get out than we did getting in." The figure nodded at what was said, and put Ellie under then lens, and like before, sent her off to the unknown.

"It's done. Now lets go before they find us here."

"Wait! We need to upload the firewall so that the Heartless and nobodies can't get inside." The figure nodded, and pressed something on the terminal.

"It's uploading no-" A sound echoed in the hall, and the figure readied himself, taking out a long, black, curved sword.

"I guess it's time to go." The video began to fill with static and eventually cut out...


End file.
